According to a study, Germany is continuing to lose ground in the battle for highly qualified specialists and start-up founders. According to an evaluation by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Germany has fallen from 12th place to 15th place among the 38 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since 2019. The Foundation and the OECD announced this today in Berlin.
An index was used to evaluate the framework conditions that are attractive to qualified migrants. It is about professional opportunities, income and taxes, future prospects, opportunities for family members or visas.
Other countries have increased
According to the index, the OECD countries New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia and Norway are the most attractive for highly qualified specialists. The conditions in Germany have not deteriorated since the last evaluation in 2019, but other countries have improved and thus overtaken Germany in the ranking.
For entrepreneurs, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Norway and New Zealand are at the top. Here Germany slipped from 6th to 13th place. The main annoyance is the sluggish digitization. And unlike other countries, Germany requires a minimum capital. In addition, the acceptance of migrants is less pronounced.
Only 12th place for company founders
In 2023, the framework conditions for company founders were also examined for the first time for the OECD index. Here Canada, USA, France, Great Britain and Ireland have the greatest attraction. Germany lags behind in 12th place. The authors of the study see few career opportunities here as reasons, too few inventors and a lack of tailor-made visas.
“Germany needs skilled workers, including those from abroad, to ensure its prosperity. The international comparison clearly shows what Germany needs to do to make the migration of skilled workers, which is so important for our country, even better,” says Ralph Heck, CEO of the Bertelsmann Foundation, on the result of the Study.
The picture is more positive for higher education. After the USA, Germany is in second place when it comes to attractiveness for students from all over the world. In the battle for international talent, Great Britain, Norway and Australia follow in places 3 to 5. Germany scores here with excellent universities, low study costs and good work and residence opportunities, as the foundation announced.
